Page 88 of Mercy & Her Devils

I try not to laugh.

“And it’s not been every week. Sometimes, I’ve been forced to go incommunicado for a fortnight on certain missions.” Gabriel runs his hand through his honey blond hair. “Look, she’s an incredible gamer. I’m allowed to boast about that. I was upfront, before we bonded, about not being able to take an Omega into our pack if it wasn’t her. I couldn’t have that daily reminder of having lost her. I’m sorry but I never wanted to be unfair to another Omega, knowing that I was pining for someone else in my heart.”

Lark’s expression clouds. “Thanks. That makes me feel welcome.”

“The Omegas choose whether they join or not,” Kai quickly says. “We’re courting them, and they haven’t agreed yet.”

Gabriel arches his brow, taking in the way that Antonio’s arm tightens possessively around Lark. “I’ve missed a lot and need a debrief, don’t I? I don’t mean that I can’t love more than one Omega. I admire your bravery. But my focus has been hundred percent on my missions. I’d sacrifice everything for them; we all would. We live here in the mountains with everything dedicated to the pursuit of dynamic equality. There was no place in that for some pampered, elite Omega. I don’t have time to—”

“Coddle them?” Lark’s eyes narrow. “I’ve just been freed from a cell where the five star facilities included a bucket to piss into, I think you’ll find that I don’t need pampering. Also, if you truly mean what you say, you’ll practice what you preach. Dynamic equality will mean trusting an Omega in this mission of yours.”

Gabriel looks thoughtful. “I feel called out. I like you even more. What I truly meant, but find hard to admit, is that the reason we don’t have an Omega is because I was torn away from my true bond. But she’s here now. If you want to become a working member of this pack, then I’ll train you up.”

Lark’s eyes widen with shock.

He was bluffing.

Lark hadn’t believed that Gabriel would take him up on the offer.

Is Gabriel truly going to let an Omega work alongside him?

After a long moment, Lark puffs up his chest with pride.

He bites hard on his lip to stop it quivering. “I hope that the pay and conditions are good.”

“Terrible. There isn’t even any danger money,” Gabriel curtly replies. “But I happen to think that the quality of the team you’ll be working with makes up for that.” His gaze slides to Antonio. “Toni, you’re forgiven everything because you found and saved my Mer.”

Antonio looks delighted. “Everything? Wow, awesome. I’ll make a list of all my broken rules and fuck-ups later to get them forgiven in one go. I’m not passing up a clean slate. We can go back to the day we met, right? Because I may have been responsible for the two…three…okay, four but who’s counting…of the accidents that happened to your balls over the weekend that my parents matched us. I call it karma, but still, everything forgiven.”

I laugh.

Lark looks like he wants to as well.

Unexpectedly, Gabriel appears to process something, and his gaze becomes thunderous. “The Sheriff broke your bond, Mer. He could have left you with permanent damage. He could have murdered you.”

“He still could in our heats,” Lark says, quietly. “They’ll be dangerous when they hit.”

“I’m going to kill him.” Gabriel’s eyes are deadly and cold.

It’s not a warning or a threat.

He means it.

This is a trained soldier speaking.

I remember Gabriel smiling more.

Now, he has a serious, vigilante vibe, which makes him seem more dangerous than Antonio in a controlled way.

I get what Antonio means about the tragic hero type with the tortured backstory. I’d never have guessed that he meant my Gabriel but somehow, my angel has fallen from heaven to hell.

Has it broken his wings too?

“You won’t, lad.” Kai catches Gabriel’s gaze and holds it. “We have a bigger picture to look at here. By the time that we’re finished, Fletcher will be ruined and he’ll have to live with that. It’s a much worse revenge.”

My eyes light up. “I want to be part of that. I deserve to be.”

“It’s dangerous.” Gabriel clasps my hand, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles.

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